The Dark Knight

What a film!

Comic book fun and unparalleled acting were never meant to be said in the same sentence. Yet its true in this case. It has the regular superhero action sequences and gizmos, but it goes way beyond just that.

One couldn’t imagine an Oscar winning performance coming out of a comic book adaptation, but it would be a crime to not give one to Heath Ledger for his incredible acting as the Joker. Strangely, its the villain who’s the star attraction of this superhero epic. The cast of Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart give a stellar performance, but Heath Ledger stands head and shoulders above the rest. There is nothing artificial about his acting in this film. He becomes the Joker himself. Actors are revered for playing real characters, but to play a comic book character with such realism, simply feels unrealistic.

I can go on and on about the rest of the cast and Nolan brothers’ fantastic direction and gripping storyline, but its best experienced in the cinema hall itself.

This is no longer just a movie. It has become a phenomenon. I had the great luck of watching it first day, first show as I booked the tickets online in advance. Friday morning, as I checked its IMDB page ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/ ) before leaving for the screening, I was surprised to see that it was already #3 in the top 250, with an incredible 9.7 rating! I dismissed it as initial hype, but now it has moved up to #1, beating even Godfather! And it has already gained such an immense fan following, that the rare critic who gives a negative review is getting mobbed by the fans online ( http://nymag.com/daily/movies/2008/07/why_youre_still_wrong_about_th.html )! Such is the passion generated by it. It has already beaten the record for the highest opening day sales, and should be expected to clear many more records in coming weeks.

Treating an addict

This post issued in public service:

To start with, I don’t go out often. And then, I cannot engage in hard physical activity due to a knee injury which happened a year ago. And considering the fact that I run my startup out of an apartment where I live as well, to avoid the 1 hour + (2 hours in peak traffic) journey from my actual home, I end up in front of a computer screen for over 90% of my waking time on most days. Work (writing code, communicating with associates/clients) , entertainment (movies and games) and socialising (IM/social networks), everything happens over a computer.

Not surprisingly, I started feeling symptoms of RSI in my right arm a few months back. I didn’t care much initially, but then the pain began to persist. Mornings would be painless, but as the day progressed, a mild pain would build up which would not go away.

So I finally decided to discuss it with a cousin, who has suffered with RSI as well, and has had to even undergo medical treatment for it. Thankfully, I’m still in an initial stage (or so I think!), so treatment through prevention is still an option. He recommended me to install Workrave ( www.workrave.org ).

Its a pretty nifty little tool, available for both windows and *nix ( I got mine through the official Ubuntu repository, so its as simple as sudo apt-get install workrave). Every 3 minutes it opens up a little window and asks me to rest my hands. And every 45 minutes, it starts displaying some timed exercise routines, following which it locks up my screen, forcing me to go away (Ofcourse, one can always cheat…but with bad consequences ). The timing, and some more options can be easily configured through a menu. Its quite likely you would’ve heard of it if you work in a large company, if not, start using it if you feel the symptoms…before it gets too late.

PS: I went through some real pain typing all this :P, so do consider this friendly advice!

In Bruges

Trust the British to make a movie about hit men where a gun fight would be the last thing on your mind while watching it.

‘In Bruges’ is set in the fairytale like town of Bruges in Belgium. The film starts when two hit men arrive at the town, ordered by their boss to lay down low for a while after a hit in England. And then the plot takes myriad twists and turns, totally gluing you in for two hours. Humour of all kinds is there in plenty, and so are moments of utter grief.

I think this should turn out to be the sleeping beauty of 2008, the ‘not to be missed’ movie that nobody gets to hear about.

Kafka On The Shore

Kafka on the shore is a story of two unique characters. Kafka Tamura, a young boy of fifteen runs away from home to escape an Oedipal curse set upon him by his father. Nakata, an ageing man in his sixties who hasn’t recovered from a childhood mishap which led him to become autistic. The narrative keeps alternating between the two, slowly revealing the connection between them.

Belonging to the genre of ‘magical realism’, weird things keep happening in the story. People talking to cats, fishes falling from the sky, all play their role in gluing you to the book. Its quite unlike anything I have ever read, being intensely mysterious while being easy to read at the same time.

I’m hooked to Murakami now, already halfway through my second one (South Of The Border, West Of the Sun) and loving it. All his books seem to have very positive reviews… so anyone looking for a new read is recommended to go get one by him.

Atonement

We all make mistakes in our lives. Some can be fixed. While others, produce such irreversible changes that you cannot do anything about them. And the feeling of guilt lives inside you, forever weighing down your conscience.

Briony Tallis makes such a mistake at the tender age of 13, giving into her adolescent impatience and a feeling of being wronged. She accuses an innocent man of a crime he never did, in the process changing the lives of several people forever.

Set around WW II England, the movie is based on a book of the same name authored by Ian McEwan. Inspite of the plot’s simplicity, the direction is such that it makes it into a very powerful and moving film.

Jeux d’enfants

Julien – Sophie
Their game was simple
hold the tin box
meet the dare
but as time passed
the dares become bolder
the feelings more intense
better than sex
better than love
it became an obsession
better than life itself
Are you game?

Jeux d’enfants (literally “child’s play”, English dubbed version “Love me if you dare”) is a story of romance kindled in childhood as friendship which transforms into unbridled passion as they grow up. Fights, heartbreaks, unrelenting egos and even separation of ten years is unable to contain it. It starts as a childish game of dares, where the one with the toy gives the other one a dare to complete, to hand over the toy. They become so obsessed with the game, that whatever be the dare, they strive to complete it without inhibitions.

Michael Clayton

Micheal Clayton (played by George Clooney) occupies a special position in the prestigious New York law firm Kenner, Bach and Odeen. He is known as the “Miracle worker”, specialising in the art of fixing other people’s messes.

Life was going just fine for him, when suddenly it all comes apart. He nearly goes broke, with his plan for retirement suddenly extinguishing. His friend and partner at the law firm handling their biggest client in a multi billion dollar lawsuit loses sanity over the morality of defending the client. And he finds himself in a precarious situation, to either rescue his life or sacrifice it to help others.

The story telling is slow, but brilliant. The characters are developed and acted brilliantly, and Tilda Swinton truly deserved an Oscar for her portrayal as counsel of UNorth, representing the evil side of big money.

It follows Syriana as an intriguing thriller-drama on socially relevant issues in today’s world. Where Syriana tackled International oil politics and terrorism, this film covers class action lawsuits involving large corporations. And like predecessor, its meant for an intelligent audience.

Cidade de Deus

Cidade de Deus (City of God) is based on real events which occurred in this favela(a kind of suburban slum), established by the Brazilian government to drive away the slum dwellers from Rio. Like many other critically acclaimed films coming out of Latin America, the flow of the plot is not chronologically ordered, with frequent flashbacks which keep you gripped to the screen throughout the film.

The story mainly deals with the lives of two boys from the favela, one of them growing up to become a photographer and the other a drug lord. It shows how the place exists in total lawlessness , where young boys begin peddling drugs at the tender age of ten, and become seasoned gangsters by their teens. The story is told from the viewpoint of Buscape, who manages to stay uncorrupted amidst all the chaos and becomes a famed photographer with his snapshots of the gang wars taking place there.

Chinese nutcases are upto it again

Since the Olympic stadium doesn’t have a roof, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau has been given the task of making sure the games remain dry. According to Zhang Qian, head of weather manipulation (best title to have on a business card ever) at the bureau, they’ve had success with light rain but heavy rain remains tough to control. I see a hurricane cannon in some lucky country’s future.

-Slashdot